Cause unknown in barn fire that killed 25 horses

Fire officials said they probably never will know what sparked a barn blaze that killed 25 horses Tuesday night.

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Rocco LaDuca

Fire officials said they probably never will know what sparked a barn blaze that killed 25 horses Tuesday night.

Eleven horses survived the fire that broke out around 10 p.m. at the Burgundy Hill Farm on Kennedy Road, said Michele Kreimeyer, who owns the family run boarding business with her mother, Arlene. Two of those horses are in serious condition, she said.

Arlene Kreimeyer said she discovered smoke and flames inside the middle barn after she finished feeding all the horses Tuesday night.

After calling 911, Arlene and Michele Kreimeyer were among those who tried to rescue as many horses as possible from the burning structure, but there was very little time before the barn roofs began to collapse, Arlene Kreimeyer said.

“Some of the horses didn’t want to come out,” Arlene Kreimeyer said. “That’s their home, and they were frightened.”

Two of the three barns were reduced to charred debris Wednesday by the time Maynard and Deerfield firefighters extinguished the blaze and demolished the unstable structure. Part of a third barn still is standing.

Maynard Fire Chief Bill Gagnon Wednesday said his department probably would not be able to find out what caused this deadly blaze.

“We have no way to investigate it at this time, to make any official kind of determination,” Gagnon said. “We wouldn’t deem anything suspicious about it, so we would just leave it as an undetermined cause at this time.”

Arlene Kreimeyer, however, says she thinks she had an idea how it happened.

“It must have been electrical,” she said. “I can’t think of anything else.”

Utica Observer-Dispatch

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